Record punching machine



May 30, 1961 A. M. TAILLEUR RECORD PUNCHING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 11, 1958 INVENTOR ANDR M. TAILLEUR AGENT y 1961 A- M. TAILLEUR 2,986,329

RECORD PUNCHING MACHINE Filed July 11, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 30, 1961 M. TAILLEUR 2,985,329

D PUNCHING MACHINE Filed July 11, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent 2,986,329 RECORD PUNCHING MACHINE And'r- M. Tailleur, Paris, France, assiguor to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed July 11, 1958, Ser. No. 747,97 3

Claims priority, application France July 15, 1957 6 Claims. Cl. 234-50) This invention relates to a high speed record punching machine and more particularly to a punching mechanism for punching records in flight.

In the various known punching machines wherein the punch elements and the die have a synchronous movement with the records to be punched, the speed of operation is generally limited owing to the high inertia of the moving parts. A decrease in the weight and volume of such parts prevents them from being sturdy and the parts have to operate at their mechanical strength limit whereby a risk of breakage results. Another limitation of speed is due generally to the minimum time which is required for picking up electromechanical control elements and also for bringing the punching device back to its starting position so that it will be able to punch the recrd, such as the well-known IBM card, at the closest index point position if it is necessary.

Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved record card punching mechanism wherein the weight and volume reduction of moving parts is efiicien tly counterbalanced by a reduction of travel of said parts to give reliable high speed punching.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a punching mechanism in which the punches are distributed over a ring having a continuous circular movement thus eliminating all time loss during a cycle.

.A further object of the present invention is to provide a punching machine having two punching stations wherein certain punches are operated at one station to punch the even rows of a record card and certain punches are operated at the other station to punch the odd rows of a record card.

In accordance with the preceding object, a further object of the present invention is to provide a novel punching mechanism comprising a roller surrounded by a rotary ring which carries the punching elements and a pair of dies revolving in synchronism with said ring for cooperation with said punch elements.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a punching mechanism having two identical fixed assemblies of punch control elements, each control element being operated only during the passage of a card row out of two, thus allowing fora very short time of punch control element operation to double the speed of punch- A still further object of the present invention is to provide a'sarne series of punches cooperating with two identical dies which revolve in synchronism with a punchb'earing roller in order to operate successively the punches corresponding to a, first series of rows of a record card, then to the remaining rows.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a punching mechanism having slideable punch elements on a rotary ring and punch control elements positionable in the path of said punches to cause radial movement of the latter to effect punching of a record card, the impact, distributed to said punches being reduced to a minimum.

Patented May 30, 1961 animproved punching machine having two card feed beds not located in the same plane and means for reducing the speed of a card feeding from one bed onto the other to enable the stacking of cards without damage to the card edges;

v Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle;

In the drawings:

Fig 1 is a digrammatic view of a punching machine embodying the present invention.

Fig. 1a is a diagrammatic view showing the driving instrurnentalities of the machine.

Fig. 2 is a cutaway view of the punching roller.

Fig; 3 is a detail view showing the control elements of the small plates which operate the punches.

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the punch plates and their disposition on the top half shell with the assembly rotated for ease of understanding.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of a punching element and its disposition in the ring.

Fig. 6 is a view illustrating the path followed by a punchelement during a punching operation.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a punch-bearing ring 1 is mounted on rollers; not shown, supported by a central beam 2 made up offltwo half shells 3, 4 and bearing against suitable side flanges of the machine. The ring 1 is made up of 12 elements 5 which are assembled at thesame time as the setting of 960 identical punches 6. Additional rollers, not shown, may be provided having a small sleeve bearing against the ring 1 and a big sleeve fixed to the lateral flanges to insure the rigidity of the assembly of ring 1 and punches 6.

Each element 5 (Figs. 2 and 5) comprises, longitudinally, a smooth side 7 and a rack-shaped side 8 so that two contiguous elements 5 determine a series of openings 9 in which the various punches 6 are located. Each of the openings 9 includes a protrusion 10 which fits into a corresponding slot ll of the punch element in order to limit the radial travel of the latter; In addition, each element 5 includes along its inside surface an inner clearance 12 to allow a series of spring blades 13 to establish a flexible link between the elements and the various punches in order to reset the punches after punching.

The punch element itself comprises a V-shaped cuttingend 14 and an opposite end 15 which has a flanged side" 15a which, as will be seen, coacts with the end of a control plate. I V

As is clearly shown inFig. 2, twelve punches 6 are assembled on ring 1 in two series of six each, one series insuring the punching 'ofthe even positions and the other series the punching of the odd positions of the record cards. In accordance with this arrangement, each one of the half shells 3 and 4 contains an identical punch control assembly and hence only one assembly will be described in detail, for instance, the one contained in the half shell 4. Itshould be understood that it is possibleto change the distribution of the punches on the rotary ring as well as the number of these punches according to the type of card used. 7

A punch control assembly comprises essentially eighty. small plates 16 controlled by eighty pull members 17 leading to eighty electromagnets, not shown, there being, forty electromagnets located on each side of the machine frame. Each, plate 16 comprises a roughly trapezoidal base 18in whichare drilled twenty holes 19 throughwhich; extend the various pull members 17. The trapezoidal base is also divided into two parts 18a and 18b for pur poses to be described.

A prolongation 20 (Fig. 4) on each plate extends toward the outside of the punching roller and has lateral symmetrical lumps 21 and 22 with rounded edges which fit into corresponding housings 23 of half shell 4. Still more toward the periphery of the shell, the plate prolongation comprises a lateral step 24, which is located on one side only of the plate and which fits into a corresponding slot 25 of the half shell 4. Finally, the end 26 of each plate comprises a flanged edge 26a which extends outside of the shell and in between the punch rows. Moreover, each plate has between its base and its prolongation, a bent part 16:: (Fig. 2) such that the alternate plates 16 are in the right part 4a of the slot of half shell 4 while the remaining alternate plates, designated 27, are in the left part 412. Also, as shown in Fig. 2, the lateral steps 24 on the plates 16 extend toward the right and the corresponding lateral steps 28 on plates 27 extend toward the left. The half shell 4 hence, has in its lower gencratrix the slot 25 extending toward the right and slot 25a extending toward the left (Fig. 2). The plates 27 each have twenty holes 19 also, for the passage of the pull members or control rods 17.

The lumps or projections 21, 22 bear equally against two identical small rods 29 which extend over the entire inner length of half shell 4 to which they are secured by screws 30. On a longitudinal flat surface 31, formed on the joint plane of half shell 4, is secured a plate 32 in which are cut and then bent two series of flexible blades 33 and 34 made up of the fins 33a, 33b and 34a, 34b. The extremities of the fins 33a, 33b bear against the parts 18a, 18b of base 18 of plate 16 and the fins 34a, 34b bear against corresponding parts of plate 27.

The operation of the punching mechanism is as follows: When any one of the 160 electromagnets is operated, in response to a signal emitted by a master card or any other known means of punching control, the control rod 17 (Fig. 3) corresponding to the energized electromagnet E is immediately drawn toward the extremity of the punching roller. Each control rod 17 is ended by a collar 17a which bears against the edges of the hole of the corresponding plate so that the movement of the control rod 17 to the right causes plate 16 to rock around an axis x-x which extends through the center of the lateral projections 21 and 22. The amplitude of this oscillation is determined by the space which exists between side 24;; of lateral step 24 and bottom plane 25b of notch 25 of the half shell 4.

The rocking of plate 16 locates its extremity in the path of punch 6 of the corresponding row so that the flanged edge 15a of the latter knocks against the slanted part 26a of tip 26 of plate 16. As a result, the punch element 6 is driven toward the outside of ring 1 and punches the record card at the selected spot. The rocking of plate 16 and the movement of punch 6 resulted in bending both of the flexible spring blades 33, 13 and after punching, blade 13 will drive the punch 6 back to its initial position while the blade 33 sets the plate 16 back in its vertical reset position.

Referring to Fig. 1, the record cards are normally stacked in a card hopper 40 and are fed out of the hopper in succession by suitable means, not shown, such as the conventional well-known picker knife mechanism. The cards feed out of the hopper and into a set of continuously operating rollers 41 and 42 having a rubber coating which prevents the cards from skidding. The cards continue through a second set of rollers 43, 44, which are identical to the first set, and on to the punching roller 1. The punching roller rotates tangent to a die 45, the die and punching roller rotating at the same speed. The die 45 is made up of a cylinder on the periphery of which are cut 80 rectangular identical grooves 46 which insure, during punching, the passage of the punch through the card and the evacuation of the corresponding chip. Behind the punching roller there is a channel 47 into which the punched material or card chips may be blown to keep the machine clean.

During the first passage of the card past the punching roller, one-half of the card will be punched, as for example, the even positions. From the punching roller the cards are fed to a third set of rolls 48, 49, which are identical to the first two sets previously described, and then on to a return roller 50 having the same diameter and speed of rotation as the punching roller. The cards are applied against roller 50 through steel strips 51 which rotate around four rollers 52, 53, 54 and 55 eccentrically mounted in an adjustable manner on their respective axes 52a, 53a, 54a and 55a. As shown in Fig. 1, when a card reaches the roller 50, it separatesstrips 51 away from the roller causing the roller 52 to move upward. The rollers 53 and 54, as a result of the stretching of the strips, will slide horizontally toward the left, and the roller 55 will move downward when the card reaches the bottom of roller 50. With this arrangement, the stretching of the flexible strips is kept substantially constant, whether they are operated by a card or not, while the adjustment of the eccentricity of each roller compensates for the loosening of the strips due to wear.

From the return roller, the cards enter another set of rollers 56 and 57 and then are moved past the punching roller 1 a second time so that the remainder of the card may be punched in the selected odd positions. A second grooved die roller 58, identical to the die 45, is provided along with a channel 59 for chip removal.

Ultimately, the cards reach a stacker 70 at a speed equal to about a tenth of their speed during punching. This slowing down occurs progressively through three sets of rollers 60, 61; 66, 67; and 68, 69. The first set of rollers 60, 61 still moves the cards at the punching speed, while the other two sets begin and determine the slowing down. Between the sets of rollers 60, 61 and 66, 67 is mounted a 4 lobed cross bar 62 which rotates at a reduced speed and which functions to drop the cards down on card bed 65 made up of the horizontal tangent plane determined by the rollers 66, 67. When the cards are being passed, arm 62b of the cross bar deflects a card down onto the bed 65 while the arm 62a begins the lowering of the following card. The difference in card speed between the second punching operation and stacking in combination with the action of cross bar 62 makes possible stacking at a slower rate of speed to insure accurate stacking with no injury to the cards.

In Fig. 1a there is shown the drive gearing for moving the punching elements in synchronism with the records. The gears carrythe same numbers as their related rollers with a suifix added.

The rollers 68 and 69 have their respective shafts mounted for vertical movement in the lateral flanges of the machine in order to allow the passage of several thicknesses of cards. When the cards reach stacker 70, they are collected on a plate 71 which is supported by a rod 72. The plate assembly vibrates at a determined frequency and the sliding of the cards one upon another results in a perfect stacking operation.

In Fig. 6, there is shown in dotted form, the theoretical curve followed by front angle A of the punch, which would be the actual curve if the punch had no width to make up an ideal condition for punching. In accord-, ance with the present invention, at the beginning of punching, the punch is slightly away from the vertical position but when it leaves the card it is in substantially a vertical position giving a clean accurate punching operation.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine of the class described, a first punching station, a second punching station, means for continuously feeding records to be perforated successively past said first and second punching stations, a plurality of punching elements common to said punching stations and including one group of elements arranged to perforate alternate positions on a record at said first station and a second group of elements arranged to perforate the remaining alternate positions of said record at said second station, means for moving said punching elements in the same direction as and in synchronism with the movement of said records, and means for selectably operating said punching elements to perforate the same record at both said punching stations.

2. In a machine of the class described, a first punching station, a second punching station, means for continuously feeding records to be perforated successively past said first and second punching stations at a high rate of speed, a plurality of punching elements common to said punching stations and including one group of elements arranged to perforate alternate positions on a record at said first station and a second group of elements arranged to perforate the remaining alternate positions of said record at said second station, means for moving said punching elements in the same direction as and in synchronism with the movement of said records, means for selectably operating said punching elements to perforate the same record at both said punching stations, means for stacking said records, and means for slowing down records feeding from said second punching station to said stacking means.

3. In a machine of the class described, a punching roller having a plurality of punch elements, a first rotary die coacting with said roller and defining a first punching station, a second rotary die coacting with said roller and defining a second punching station, said plurality of punch elements including one group of elements arranged to perforate alternate positions on a record at said first rotary die and a second group of elements arranged to perforate the remaining alternate positions of said record at said second rotary die, means for continuously feeding records to be perforated successively between said roller and said first and second dies, means for rotating said punching roller and dies in the same direction as and in synchronism with the movement of said records, and means for selectably operating said punch elements to perforate the same record at both said punching stations.

4. In a machine of the class described, a punching ring, a plurality of radially movable punch elements carried by said ring, a first rotary die coacting with said ring and defining a first punching station, a second rotary die coacting with said ring and defining a second punching station, said plurality of punch elements including positions on a record at said first rotary die and asecond group of elements arranged to perforate the remaining alternate positions of said record at said second rotary die, means for continuously feeding records to'be perforated successively betweensaid ring and said first and second dies, means for rotating and punching ring and dies in the same direction as and in synchronism with the movement of said records, and control means located within said ring for selectively operating said punch elements to perforate the even positions on a record at said first rotary die and the odd positions on said same record at said second rotary die.

5. In a machine for perforating records in flight in two operations, a punching mechanism comprising, a rotatable punching ring, a first group of radially movable punch elements carried by a portion of said ring for perforating alternate positions of a record, a second group of radially movable punch elements carried by a portion of said ring and oppositely disposed from said first group for perforating the remaining alternate positions of said record, a pair of rotatable punch dies oppositely disposed adjacent the outer periphery of said ring for coaction with said punch elements, and a control mechanism stationary within said ring, said control mechanism including means for effecting radial movement of said punch elements to carry out punching at said dies.

6. In a machine for perforating records in flight in two operations, a punching mechanism comprising, a rotatable, punching ring, a first group of radially movable punch elements carried by a portion of said ring for perforating alternate positions of a record, a second group of radially movable punch elements carried by a portion of said ring and oppositely disposed from said first group for perforating the remaining alternate positions of said record, a pair of rotatable punch dies oppositely disposed adjacent the outer periphery of said ring for coaction with said punch elements, a stationary control mechanism around which said punching ring rotates, said control mechanism having a row of pivoted members opposite one of said dies and another row of pivoted members opposite the other die, and means for pivoting certain of said members into the path of certain of said punching elements to cause the latter to move radially toward said dies to carry out a punching operation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,083,370 Greulich June 8, 1937 2,621,740 Shanley Dec. 16, 1952 2,708,971 Maul May 24, 1955 2,746,548 Paris et al May 22, 1956 7 2,761,509 Marshall et al. Sept. 4, 1956' 2,761,513 Stram Sept. 4, 1956 

